Hugh Calveley, it has already been intimated, was lodged in a vault beneath the gateway.  The place was commonly used as a sort of black-hole for the imprisonment of any refractory member of the royal household, or soldier on guard guilty of neglect of duty.  Circular in shape, it contained a large pillar, to which iron rings and chains were attached.  The walls were of stone, the roof arched with ribs springing from the pillar that supported it, and the floor was paved.  Window there was none; but air was admitted through a small grated aperture in the roof; and thus imperfectly ventilated, it will not be wondered at that the vault should be damp.  Moisture constantly trickled down the walls, and collected in pools on the broken pavement; but unwholesome as it was, and altogether unfit for occupation, it was deemed good enough for those generally thrust into it, and far too good for its present tenant.

As the prisoner exhibited no violence, the thongs with which his hands were bound were removed on his entrance to the vault, and he was allowed the free use of his limbs.  The breast-plate in which he was clad was taken from him, and his vesture was again closely searched, but no further discovery was made either of concealed weapon, or of any paper or letter tending to show that he had accomplices in his dread design.  The only thing found upon him, indeed, was a small Bible, and this, after it had been examined, he was permitted to retain.  To the interrogatories put to him by Master Dendy, the serjeant-at-arms, he returned the briefest answers; and when he had said as much as he thought fit, he obstinately refused to make further reply.

Incensed at his perversity, and determined to extort a full confession, in order that it might be laid before the King, the serjeant-at-arms ordered the manacles to be applied.  But though the torture was exquisite, he bore it with firmness, and without uttering a groan; maintaining the same determined silence as before.  Had he dared, Master Dendy would have had recourse to severer measures; but having no warrant for any such proceeding, he was obliged to content himself with threats.  To these Hugh Calveley replied by a grim smile of contempt; but as the serjeant-at-arms was departing to make his report to Sir Thomas Lake, he said, “I have something to disclose; but it is for the King’s ear alone.”

“Better reveal it to me,” rejoined Dendy, halting.  “I have it in my power to render your situation far more tolerable, or to inflict greater torment upon you.  Make your choice.”

“Deal with me as you please,” returned Hugh Calveley sternly.  “What I have to say is to the King, and to the King only; and though you break every bone in my body with your engines, and tear off my flesh with red-hot pincers, you shall not force the secret from me.”

Master Dendy looked at him, and felt disposed to place him in the dreadful instrument of torture called Skeffington’s irons, which was hanging against the wall; but the consideration that had hitherto restrained him—­namely, that he was without authority for the step, and might be called to account for it—­weighed with him still; wherefore he contented himself with ordering the prisoner to be chained to the pillar; and having seen the injunction obeyed, he left him.